Last week I attended the first event organized by the Spanish Association of Community Managers (AERCO). First of all, I would like to thank my friend Jose Antonio Gallego, community manager at BBVA, who gave me the opportunity to be there. It was really good and I am sure this was just the first of many great and interesting events (please count on me for next time!).
I got quite a few messages and recommendations on how to manage your community.
Now that it is so trendy to create and develop your own group, I find many companies are there just because you have to be there, it is really useful to receive some good examples on how to make a good job in the 2.0 arena
Francisco de Sebastian, Country Manager at Forrester, made a great presentation on the steps you must follow to create your community, which is the POST (People – Objective – Strategy - Technology) method. If we were talking about marketing or about positioning our company, it would be obvious that at a first step, we should know who our clients are, their likes/dislikes, interests (People), think about what we would like to get, a better communication? (Objective), Plan for how relationships with customers will change (Strategy) and finally, decide which channel to use (Technology). Why should companies do differently when talking about communities?
We face out a different customer - the Crossumer -. People have the best background ever, they are willing to comment on your strategy, your branding, your company, your policies, and not just your products/services. We are in the “Sharing information” era, People share information on blogs, wikis, opinion websites: ciao, e-pinions, tripadvisor…They will trust their network more than any corporative branding and will check them before making decisions
Are companies prepared for their opinions? To listen to them? It might be time to sit and think over it, what are your thoughts??
The author of this article has been with the Oracle EMEA Recruitment Team for the past year and can be contacted at vanesa.rodriguez@oracle.com
